Mark Pope Should get an Interview

[Aike]

He’s family. Doing a great job at BYU. Happened to be teammates with the dad of a player we would all like to see return.

Should we hire him? Depends how far we get down the list. But you don’t lose anything by interviewing him, unless you already have a grand slam lined up.

Give the guy a chance to make his best pitch.

 

[Aike]

Everybody is laughing, but I’m dead serious. Letting him interview is the right thing to do.

He isn’t at the top of my list. Not even top 10. But it doesn’t bother me in the least for him to get an interview.

He’s not some random loser. He’s one of our guys.

 

[Bluegrass79]

Nope.

 

[wccat]

I like Pope but he has not won ONE single NCAA tournament game. He is not ready to coach in big games much less at UK. Maybe later but you don't cut your teeth at UK. If he had not played at UK, would he be considered?

 

[Wildcats1st]

He’s family. Doing a great job at BYU. Happened to be teammates with the dad of a player we would all like to see return.

Should we hire him? Depends how far we get down the list. But you don’t lose anything by interviewing him, unless you already have a grand slam lined up.

Give the guy a chance to make his best pitch.

No because interview will lead to offer and while he is former UK player he isn’t dialed into the state. He has no recruiting presence no real name recognition. He needs to win some tourney games there are better options. How would pope fill out a roster? Where would his players come from? He’s another niche coach at a religious school that was mis seeded because they can’t play on sundays. There are 10-15 coaches more qualified than him I like the Uk connection but he has Matt Doherty written all over him at this point.

 

[RoyKent]

This is stupid

 

[UKWildcats1987]

No because interview will lead to offer and while he is former UK player he isn’t dialed into the state. He has no recruiting presence no real name recognition. He needs to win some tourney games there are better options. How would pope fill out a roster? Where would his players come from? He’s another niche coach at a religious school that was mis seeded because they can’t play on sundays. There are 10-15 coaches more qualified than him I like the Uk connection but he has Matt Doherty written all over him at this point.

Looking at another 9 to 10 win season next year if he's the hire. Our roster will be atrocious.

 

[jessieshorts8]

Travis Ford is one of our guys also.Should he get an interview?

 

[SacramentoKat]

It would improper if we don’t at least interview our next coach.

 

[DraftCat]

How many tournament wins did Huber and Scheyer win before accepting their position?

 

[RondosRevengeTour]

Everybody is laughing, but I’m dead serious. Letting him interview is the right thing to do.

He isn’t at the top of my list. Not even top 10. But it doesn’t bother me in the least for him to get an interview.

He’s not some random loser. He’s one of our guys.

Should Apple consider hiring someone who’s kinda good with computers but has used Apple products strictly there whole life? Sure he’s one of our guys but when it comes to coaching, dudes buns anyways.

 

[katkraze]

Mitch would lowball mark - with a bunch of incentives

 

[UKWildcats1987]

How many tournament wins did Huber and Scheyer win before accepting their position?

Idk why people keep bringing these two clowns up. I doubt either of them ever win a title and I'm happy they are at unc and Duke. Hubert is tubby but choked n his first year.

 

[Random UK Fan_rivals71127]

 

[kywildcat1021979]

He’s family. Doing a great job at BYU. Happened to be teammates with the dad of a player we would all like to see return.

Should we hire him? Depends how far we get down the list. But you don’t lose anything by interviewing him, unless you already have a grand slam lined up.

Give the guy a chance to make his best pitch.

According to the article on the other thread Pope has already had a zoom meeting with UK.

 

[DraftCat]

Idk why people keep bringing these two clowns up. I doubt either of them ever win a title and I'm happy they are at unc and Duke. Hubert is tubby but choked n his first year.

Joe B Hall and Tubby had Zero wins as well....

 

[TheDude73]

He could talk his way through anything in an interview - still won't change his track record.

He's not ready for this gig. Needs more winning.

 

[Aike]

No because interview will lead to offer and while he is former UK player he isn’t dialed into the state. He has no recruiting presence no real name recognition. He needs to win some tourney games there are better options. How would pope fill out a roster? Where would his players come from? He’s another niche coach at a religious school that was mis seeded because they can’t play on sundays. There are 10-15 coaches more qualified than him I like the Uk connection but he has Matt Doherty written all over him at this point.

Isn’t dialed into the state? How would you know that?

How would he fill out a roster? I don’t know. Sounds like something you would cover in an interview.

Mis-seeded? BYU was good this year. Agree that they should have played better in the tournament, but he had a great season for BYU.

I think it’s a respectful move to allow him to interview. Doesn’t necessarily lead to an offer. Not sure why that would be the case.

Might just be valuable for him and UK both to see where he stands. Might learn something that helps him get the next job, even if it isn’t at UK.

 

[RondosRevengeTour]

According to the article on the other thread Pope has already had a zoom meeting with UK.

Smart idea to switch the interviews to zoom instead of having the crafts fly out his family.

 

[TheDude73]

That's great, but what kind of PR stunt is this? Was this literally today?

 

[The gutman]

Pope ain’t getting nothing but a big _____ in the ____ as far as I’m concerned.

 

[UKWildcats1987]

Joe B Hall and Tubby had Zero wins as well....

Wrong! Tubby won ncaa tourney games at Georgia.

 

[SemperFiCat]

He's one of the few Kentucky players I've gotten to see play for the Pacers. Call him.

 

[truckbrandon]

That was awesome!

 

[LineSkiCat14]

Everybody is laughing, but I’m dead serious. Letting him interview is the right thing to do.

He isn’t at the top of my list. Not even top 10. But it doesn’t bother me in the least for him to get an interview.

He’s not some random loser. He’s one of our guys.

Not sure why they are laughing.. probably because they have narrowed their sights on Greg Popovich, Spoelstra and Sean McVey... one of those guys will surely bend the knee when Kentucky approaches them.

I think Pope is a great hire, or a least, let's take a look.

 

[jessieshorts8]

Isn’t dialed into the state? How would you know that?

How would he fill out a roster? I don’t know. Sounds like something you would cover in an interview.

Mis-seeded? BYU was good this year. Agree that they should have played better in the tournament, but he had a great season for BYU.

I think it’s a respectful move to allow him to interview. Doesn’t necessarily lead to an offer. Not sure why that would be the case.

Might just be valuable for him and UK both to see where he stands. Might learn something that helps him get the next job, even if it isn’t at UK.

Who care if it fricking land him his next job.Mitch needs to find the right coach for UK and this isn't it.

 

[RondosRevengeTour]

He's one of the few Kentucky players I've gotten to see play for the Pacers. Call him.

Pacers lineage>actual coaching ability. Is this really what we’ve come to?

 

[Jakerz]

We’ve really had some of the dumbest **** said the past 48 hours

 

[TortElvisII]

Everybody is laughing, but I’m dead serious. Letting him interview is the right thing to do.

He isn’t at the top of my list. Not even top 10. But it doesn’t bother me in the least for him to get an interview.

He’s not some random loser. He’s one of our guys.

I agree. But we should hope he is the backup plan.

 

[Aike]

Not sure why they are laughing.. probably because they have narrowed their sights on Greg Popovich, Spoelstra and Sean McVey... one of those guys surely bend the knee when Kentucky approaches them.

I think Pope is a great hire, or a least, let's take a look.

I don’t know if he’d be a great hire. But I think it’s the right thing to do to have a discussion with him.

Wouldn’t shock me if he did well here. Most coaches do.

 

[jbne222]

Agree. Nothing wrong with interviewing him.

My biggest takeaway is we all need to settle the **** down. Interviewing does not = hiring.

I love our fans but our fanbase is so toxic at times and it’s starting to make the job look less appealing. Doesn’t surprise me coaches don’t want to come here to follow Cal when they know our expectations are completely through the roof.

 

[LineSkiCat14]

@Aike

And of course, you know this is coming..

but can I get the predictive model for the top 25 coaching hires?

 

[Aike]

I agree. But we should hope he is the backup plan.

Yeah no doubt. Like I said, he’s pretty far down my list.

But he’s a UK guy, and a good coach. I would certainly be on his side if we ended up going that direction.

 

[RondosRevengeTour]

Agree. Nothing wrong with interviewing him.

My biggest takeaway is we all need to settle the **** down. Interviewing does not = hiring.

I love our fans but our fanbase is so toxic at times and it’s starting to make the job look less appealing. Doesn’t surprise me coaches don’t want to come here to follow Cal when they know our expectations are completely through the roof.

I agree with you about being toxic, however I think the expectations they come in with barring certain coaches is the best thing we can have, if your scared, stay out of the kitchen.

 

[Aike]

@Aike

And of course, you know this is coming..

but can I get the predictive model for the top 25 coaching hires?

Odds are shifting rapidly.

 

[SemperFiCat]

Pacers lineage>actual coaching ability. Is this really what we’ve come to?

Well, it kinda seems that way. We all love the guy, but damn this is a risk. Boosters are gonna have to carry a lot of weight. A lot. And Pope better be able to X and O. This is too risky for me. Golden seems like a safer risk if you want to roll the dice.

 

[RondosRevengeTour]

Odds are shifting rapidly.

Imagine the most boring hire, then lower expectations. Mitch has no idea what to do after pastor Scott said no to his 5 year pre-planned marriage.

 

[TortElvisII]

I think no one ever talks about McDermott.
He has built nice teams.

 

[CELTICAT]

Tap into our early Cal NBA guys for roles like we’ve had with Ulis. Get John Wall a job doing ANYTHING. Take some of craft’s money we’d be saving on annual salary and make $1 million the annual minimum for player’s NIL.

Pope can coach, make it easy to go get the best players.

 

[jbne222]

I agree with you about being toxic, however I think the expectations they come in with barring certain coaches is the best thing we can have, if your scared, stay out of the kitchen.

Fair - I just think we need to ease up a bit. Even with Scott Drew, there were a lot of people already going nuts and acting like they’d revolt if we hired him. I think pretty much everyone would be absolutely thrilled with Scott Drew currently